Calling 911

Regarding “Help Is on the Way: Tales of an Ambulance Driver,” by Courtney Moreno (April 3): amazing. You have it down to a T. Your writing is seriously what goes through my head as I run calls night after night.

Comment by Joe from L.A.

 

Twenty-eight years ago I was an EMT; it’s good to see things have not changed. Are there still Gomers? Great writing.

Comment by Jim from Santa Ana

 

It’s nice to know others feel the same after midnight. And abdominal pain? You hit it in the spot, especially at 3 a.m. and when you ask how long they’ve had this pain and they reply with “4 days”! It’s infuriating!

Comment by Vic from L.A.

 

I’ve been an emergency physician for eight years, and was an NYC-EMS paramedic for four years. This article is so right on. Well done.

Comment by MDMD from L.A.

 

What a fascinating article! It’s like seeing it through the author’s eyes. I suspected that EMTs went through a lot, but I’ve never seen it described in such vivid detail.

I’m really intrigued about one thing, though: The author talks about the “smoke” or “light” she sees coming out of the dying gang member’s mouth. Does she mean to say that she actually saw the gangbanger’s life force leaving his body? Wow, I wonder how many other EMTs have had this experience.

Comment by Pat from Sherman Oaks

 

It sounds like you are dealing with a serious case of burnout. I would take some time off and contemplate where you would like to see yourself in five years. Running calls takes its toll but the last thing you want is to be burnt out and not there for someone when they need it most.

Our job is not to judge those who we are dispatched to. Our job is to serve those in need regardless of our personal feelings or opinions. Leave the extended diagnosis to the doctors and psychologists. Please friend, please take some time off and get yourself together; is EMS where you want to be? The pay is low, the stress is high. Do you want to be here?

Comment by David Johnson

 

You have the world’s worst EMS disease going on — huge burnout. That’s okay though, we all get it, over and over. I hope writing the article helped some and I pray you are getting some help. God bless, good luck and keep on going.

Comment by Tommy from Memphis

 

Wow. From the opposite side of the country, and I can completely relate. You do sound totally wiped, though. You can’t pour into others when you’ve got nothing in your tank. Hope you get some quality sleep and normal-life time! I know it’s hard to come by, but it does exist. …

Comment by Naomi from Northern Virginia

 

Wow, this is a great article. This keeps my eyes glued to L.A. Weekly like I don’t know what. I hope to hear more from Moreno. Man, I would love to shoot a short about this story.

Comment by Chris from L.A.

 

Octomometry

Regarding “Octomom as Reproductive Lightning Rod: Do the prolife and prochoice sides in L.A. finally agree on something?” by Tina Dupuy (April 3): I really think everyone should just mind their own business and let this lady live her life. Who are we to judge? Look at your life and solve your own problems before you look into someone else’s. Stop being jealous if someone wants to help her. Remember, those are little angels and you are only making it harder for them by causing the mother so much stress.

Comment by Nat from Commerce

 

Oh, please. SHE is the one who sought the spotlight. Nobody would know who she was without her personal whoring, followed by a never-ending waterfall of lies and half-truths. She got exactly what she thought she wanted — attention. That the attention also uncovered things she wanted hidden is nobody’s fault but her own. Like the person who calls the cops because they got robbed of their drugs, why so surprised to get posted up?

Be careful what you ask for, as you won’t be able to control the degree to which you receive it.

Comment by Marcy from L.A.

 

One way or another, taxpayers will pay, and pay, and pay again for this woman’s “right” to bear children. She’s not just irresponsible, she carefully planned and executed her perverse plan to increase her family. But the children will suffer most.

Comment by Jack from L.A.

 

Nadya von Munchausen.

Comment by David from Alhambra

 

Domination Tour

Regarding “Dom’s and Subs: Po’ Boys and Meatballs — Little Dom’s Big Easy Secret,” by Jonathan Gold (April 3): Maybe it’s a good thing that Gold compares Little Dom’s to restaurants in New Orleans and gives but passing lip service to Italian restaurants in New York’s Little Italy or Philly, even, for that matter, Federal Hill in Providence, or the North End in Boston, because the Italian-Creole combo could barely hold a candle those small, inexpensive eateries that prove once again that the only true love is the love of food. Little Dom’s is okay, but inferior to its East Coast counterparts.

Comment by Mal from L.A.

 

Not as sure about the superiority of East Coast Italian eateries as I am about East Coast chauvinism, but the oyster po’ boy at Little Dom’s is truly wonderful.

Comment by Jezdog from Altadena

 

Little Dom’s a New Orleans restaurant? Hardly. In New Orleans it’s all about the food — Little Dom’s is a hipster-poser paradise, pretentious cocktails for pretentious people.

Comment by Starchy from Eagle Rock

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